The former owner of the popular Po' Boys restaurant chain was arrested Sunday, about six months after he closed the doors on his final two locations.

A Florida Department of Revenue investigation contends 50-year-old Jon Sweede failed to pay more than $46,000 in sales tax collected at his three Tallahassee restaurants on East College Avenue, West Pensacola Street and Village Square Boulevard in Killearn.

Sweede posted bail Sunday evening and faces one charge of failure to remit sales tax more than $20,000 and two charges of refusal to pay or file a sales-tax return.

Since he opened his first store 22 years ago, Sweede's business expanded with the economy, but later fell victim to the recession over the past few years.

In an interview with the Democrat in December, Sweede said stress and increased work load caused him to close his two remaining restaurants on College Avenue and on Village Square Boulevard in Killearn.

He sold the West Pensacola Street location, which is still up and running, in 2013.

"It's become a health issue for me," Sweede told the Democrat last year. "The restaurant industry is an all-consuming industry. We've made what I consider the intelligent decision to close the stores."

Sweede opened his first store in 1992 on West Tennessee Street — now home to a Tropical Smoothie — serving up red beans and rice, jambalaya and gumbo.

By the mid 90s, Sweede had moved his operation to West Penascola Street and East College Avenue. At its peak, those two restaurants employed 60 people.

Jon Sweede(Photo: Leon County Jail booking photo)

In the early 2000s, Sweede branched out to eight franchises in Florida and Georgia, but in 2010, the recession took its toll, forcing Sweede to close every operation outside of Tallahassee while he began working more hours than ever.

"It was just time to close," he said in December, just days after hosting a farewell party at his College Avenue location. "I don't know of too many business people who have stress when they're making money."

Court documents said Sweede failed to report and pay sales tax for 31 monthly filings spanning from November 2010 through the restaurants' last month in operation in December.

DOR specialists made contact with him 19 times from March 2009 through November 2013 in an effort to resolve the issue. Sweede told the department he was aware he owed the state money and acknowledged it was a crime to not pay state sales tax back to the state, the documents said.

In January of 2013, Sweede agreed to two payment agreements to repay the money but later defaulted on both.

In May, Sweede called a DOR investigator, saying his lawyer advised him not to be interviewed.